THE GREAT BOOMER BAILOUT

Seniors in the U.S. and across Western developed nations are reaping a social security bonanza funded by younger workers and mountains of debt the old will never have to pay off

- Jesus Mesa AND Anita Powell

EVERY MORNING, MILLIONS OF AMERICAN children walk into schools that struggle with limited resources, while their grandparents receive government checks that haven't missed a beat in decades.

It's not because the children are any less in need. However, the difference in how the government supports America's aging population versus its youngest members is the result of politics and a lopsided system—one that guarantees checks for retirees but leaves funding for children up for regular debate.

An analysis by the Urban Institute think tank found that, in 2023, the government spent over $37,000 per senior, compared with $7,300 per child under 19—a ratio of about five to one. That gap, which briefly narrowed during the COVID-19 pandemic, has since steadied, and recent policy proposals indicate it's unlikely to shrink anytime soon.

FAMILY CRISIS Declining birth rates mean America is running out of children-a reality colliding with a shrinking pipeline of workers to fund retirees.

“We haven’t shifted gears,” Eugene Steuerle, former Treasury official and cofounder of the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, told Newsweek. “Most of the growth in spending has gone to retirement and health care, while programs that promote upward mobility—education, housing, early childhood support—have been left behind.”

He noted that government spending has become largely automatic, with Social Security, Medicare and interest payments dominating the federal budget. Everything else—child care, education, infrastructure—must fight over the leftovers. Steuerle called this the death of “fiscal democracy.”

“Both parties are stuck,” he said. “Republicans resist raising taxes on the wealthy, while Democrats fear slowing the growth of Social Security or health care.”